Touch input gesture based command

ABSTRACT

A touch input gesture made on a touch sensitive display is described for providing a quick and efficient method for initiating the opening of a text input box. The initiation of opening the text input box following the touch input gesture may be made during the running of a separate application. Further, certain characteristics related to the shape, size and length of the touch input gesture will be referenced to determine certain characteristics of the text input box that is initiated in response to the touch input gesture.

This patent application is a Continuation-in-Part Application of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/432,945 filed Mar. 28, 2012 (now allowed), whichin turn claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.61/606,470 filed on Mar. 4, 2012. The entire contents of all theseapplications are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Touch sensitive displays have been incorporated into many consumerelectronic devices, thus allowing for a wider array of tasks that aremade available to a user. Thus users have come to now expect touch inputfunctionality to be incorporated into all aspects of the user experienceon such devices that incorporate a touch sensitive display.

Whereas the function of simply providing a virtual keyboard on a touchsensitive display at certain predetermined times may have satisfiedusers at one time, users now have come to demand and expect suchfunctionality at any time, and not just at predetermined instances. Forinstance, a user may want to invoke a note taking function while readinga paper on a touch sensitive display but was previously denied theability to invoke such a writing function as only a reading function wasmade available. Or a user may be reviewing a student paper on a touchsensitive display and wish to edit the student paper but was denied theability to make such editing notes because again only a read functionwas made available.

Typically, while reading written material on a display screen of a touchsensitive display device, if a user wanted to stop and open a text boxto write down some notes, the user was required to manually switch froma reading mode to a text writing mode before being allowed to inputtextual notes. The process for manually switching from the reading modeto the text writing mode required the multiple steps of selecting a textinput mode, selecting a region on the display screen to open a textinput box, configuring the font settings of the text and also setting alanguage mode of the text to be displayed in the text input box. All ofthese steps were required just to allow a user to input text, which wasrather cumbersome. So there is a need to provide a simple and efficientway to provide a user with the ability to invoke a writing function on atouch sensitive display at a user's command, and according to a user'sdesired configuration and settings, for a device that incorporates sucha touch sensitive display.

The following disclosure of the present invention will describeadvantageous embodiments for a new type of touch gesture that willinvoke a text input capability on a touch sensitive display device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a touchsensitive display device with the means to allow a user to quickly andefficiently invoke a text input box at the user's desire. In order toachieve this objective of the present invention, a new type of touchinput gesture is presented.

In order to achieve the objectives of the present invention, the presentinvention discloses a touch sensitive display device, comprising: atouch sensitive display configured to detect a contact from a touchinput gesture; a storage unit configured to store information describinga predetermined touch input gesture for executing a display of a textinput box on the touch sensitive display; a touch recognition unitconfigured to compare the touch input gesture detected from the touchsensitive display to the information describing the predetermined touchinput gesture for executing the display of the text input box, and asystem controller configured to control the display of the text inputbox on the touch sensitive display when the touch input gesture isrecognized as being substantially similar to the predetermined touchinput gesture for executing the display of the text input box.

Preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least one of aletter component, a line component and a feature component.

More preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least theletter component, and the touch recognition unit is further configuredto recognize the letter component of the touch input gesture as beingsubstantially in the shape of a letter in a language alphabet system,and the system controller is further configured to set a languagesetting of a virtual keyboard that is displayed along with the textinput box to the language of the recognized letter.

More preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least theline component, and the touch recognition unit is further configured todetect a thickness of the line component of the touch input gesture, andthe system controller is further configured to control a letter typed inthe text input box to have a bold font characteristic when a thicknessof the line component of the touch input gesture is detected to be abovea predetermined thickness.

More preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least thefeature component, and the touch recognition unit is further configuredto interpret an end to the touch input gesture after recognizing thefeature component of the touch input gesture.

More preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least thefeature component, and the touch recognition unit is further configuredto recognize a shape of the feature component of the touch inputgesture, and the system controller is further configured to determine afont characteristic of text to be typed in the text input box based onthe recognized shape of the feature component.

More preferably, the text typed in the text input box will have anunderlined font characteristic when the feature component of the touchinput gesture is recognized as being substantially in the shape of theletter ‘u’, text typed in the text input box will have an italic fontcharacteristic when the feature component of the touch input gesture isrecognized as being substantially in the shape of the letter ‘i’ andtext typed in the text input box will have a bold font characteristicwhen the feature component of the touch input gesture is recognized asbeing substantially in the shape of the letter ‘b’.

More preferably, the text input gesture is comprised of at least theline component, and the line component of the text input gesture iscomprised of a horizontal line portion and a vertical line portion, andthe system controller is further configured to set a width of the textinput box to correspond to a length of the horizontal line portion ofthe text input gesture and set a height of the text input box tocorrespond to a length of the vertical line portion.

Preferably, the system controller is further configured to set a widthof the text input box to correspond to a length of the touch inputgesture.

More preferably, the system controller is further configured to set aheight of the text input box to correspond to a length of one of apredetermined length and the width of the text input box.

Preferably, the touch recognition unit is further configured to detectan angle at which the touch input gesture is drawn on the touchsensitive display, and the system controller is further configured tocontrol the display of the text input box to be displayed at an anglethat corresponds to the detected angle at which the touch input gestureis drawn.

Preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least the lettercomponent, and the touch recognition unit is further configured torecognize an upper case and lower case status of a letter that comprisesthe letter component, and the system controller is further configured tocontrol a first letter typed into the text input box to be in an uppercase status when the letter that comprises the letter component isrecognized as being in an upper case status, and control a first lettertyped into the text input box to be in a lower case status when theletter that comprises the letter component is recognized as being in alower case status.

Preferably, the touch recognition unit recognizes the touch inputgesture as being substantially similar to the predetermined touch inputgesture when a degree of similarity between the touch input gesture andthe predetermined touch input gesture falls within an allowable range ofvariance.

Preferably, the system controller is further configured to control thedisplay of the text input box to be partitioned so that the text inputbox does not overlap with objects displayed on the touch sensitivedisplay.

Preferably, the system controller is further configured to control thedisplay of the text input box to have a degree of transparency overportions that overlap with objects displayed on the touch sensitivedisplay.

To further achieve objectives of the present invention, the presentinvention further discloses a method for recognizing a touch inputgesture, comprising: storing shape feature information describing apredetermined touch input gesture on a storage unit, the predeterminedtouch input gesture being a command for executing a display of a textinput box on the touch sensitive display; detecting a contact on a touchsensitive display that is drawn in the shape of a touch input gesture;comparing the touch input gesture detected from the touch sensitivedisplay to the shape feature information describing the predeterminedtouch input gesture by a touch recognition unit, and controlling thedisplay of the text input box on the touch sensitive display when thetouch input gesture is recognized as being substantially similar to thepredetermined touch input gesture.

Preferably, the touch input gesture is comprised of at least one of aletter component, a line component and a feature component.

More preferably, the method further comprises: recognizing at least theletter component from the touch input gesture as being substantially inthe shape of a letter in a language alphabet system, and setting alanguage setting of a virtual keyboard that is displayed along with thetext input box to the language of the recognized letter.

More preferably, the method further comprises: recognizing at least theline component from the touch input gesture, and setting a width of thetext input box to correspond to a length of the line component of thetouch input gesture.

More preferably, the method further comprises: recognizing at least thefeature component of the touch input gesture, and interpreting an end tothe touch input gesture after recognizing a shape of the featurecomponent of the touch input gesture, and setting a font characteristicof text to be typed in the text input box based on the recognized shapeof the feature component.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a general architecture block diagram for a displaydevice, according to the present invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates a display device in a landscape viewing orientation,according to the present invention;

FIG. 1C illustrates a display device in a portrait viewing orientation,according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A illustrates written material being displayed on a displaydevice, according to the present invention;

FIG. 2B illustrates a touch input gesture being drawn on a displaydevice, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2C illustrates a text input box and a virtual keyboard beingdisplayed on a display device in response to the recognition of a touchinput gesture drawn on the display device, according to some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a comparison between a predetermined touch inputgesture for executing the display of the text input box and a touchinput gesture drawn on a display device, according to some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 4A illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4B illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5A illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5B illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5C illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6A illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6B illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6C illustrates a predetermined touch input gesture for executingthe display of the text input box, according to some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a comparison between a predetermined touch inputgesture for executing the display of the text input box and a touchinput gesture drawn on a display device, according to some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a comparison between a predetermined touch inputgesture for executing the display of the text input box and a touchinput gesture drawn on a display device, according to some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 9A illustrates a touch input gesture being drawn on a displaydevice at an angle, according to some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9B illustrates a text input box and a virtual keyboard beingdisplayed on a display device in response to the recognition of a touchinput gesture drawn on the display device, where the text input box isdisplayed at an angle corresponding to an angle at which the touch inputgesture was drawn on the display device, according to some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 9C illustrates a text input box and a virtual keyboard beingdisplayed on a display device in response to the recognition of a touchinput gesture drawn on the display device, where the text input box isdisplayed at an angle corresponding to an angle at which the touch inputgesture was drawn on the display device, according to some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 10A illustrates a text input box and a virtual keyboard beingdisplayed on a display device in response to the recognition of a touchinput gesture drawn on the display device, where the text input box isdisplayed to avoid overlapping written material also displayed on thedisplay device, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 10B illustrates a text input box and a virtual keyboard beingdisplayed on a display device in response to the recognition of a touchinput gesture drawn on the display device, where the text input box isdisplayed as having a degree of transparency to avoid blocking writtenmaterial also displayed on the display device, according to someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 11A illustrates a note taking notation being drawn on a displaydevice in conjunction with a touch input gesture, according to someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 11B illustrates adaptively adjusting a size of a note takingnotation to follow a size of a text input box displayed on a displaydevice, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart describing a method for recognizing atouch input gesture drawn by a user, according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates a chart describing various options for determininghow to control certain features based on the shape of a touch inputgesture drawn by a user on a touch sensitive display, according to thepresent invention.

FIGS. 14A-14E illustrate other embodiments of touch input gestures andtext input boxes being displayed on a display device in response to therecognition of the touch input gestures drawn on the display devicerespectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art thatin certain instances of the following description, the present inventionis described without the specific details of conventional details inorder to avoid unnecessarily distracting from the present invention.Wherever possible, like reference designations will be used throughoutthe drawings to refer to the same or similar parts. All mention of adisplay device is to be understood as being made to a touch sensitivedisplay device of the present invention unless specifically explainedotherwise.

It follows that a touch sensitive display device according to thepresent invention is able to provide a quick and efficient way for auser to invoke a text input box according to the user's desire. A touchsensitive display device according to the present invention is able toachieve this by recognizing a unique touch input gesture made by a useron the touch sensitive display device.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a general architecture block diagram for a displaydevice 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention isprovided. It is to be appreciated that it is within the scope of thepresent invention to utilize display devices that may include a fewer,or greater, number of components than what is expressly illustrated inFIG. 1A. The display device 100 illustrated in FIG. 1A is preferably atablet PC display device, but alternatively the display device 100 may,for example, be a mobile telecommunications device, notebook computer,personal computer, portable navigation device, portable video player,personal digital assistant (PDA) or any other similar display devicethat incorporates a touch sensitive display.

The display device 100 includes a touch recognition unit 111, systemcontroller 112, storage unit 120, communications unit 130, orientationunit 140, audio input output (I/O) unit 150, camera unit 160, touchsensitive display unit 170 and a power unit. The display device 100illustrated in FIG. 1A is depicted to have the touch recognition unit111 and system controller included on a common chipset 110. However itis within the scope of the present invention to have the touchrecognition unit 111 and system controller 112 be placed separately onan uncommon chipset according to some embodiments, and in otherembodiments the capabilities of the touch recognition unit 111 and thesystem controller 112 may be incorporated and performed by a singleprocessing unit.

Although not all specifically illustrated in FIG. 1A, components of thedisplay device 100 are able to communicate with each other via one ormore communication buses or signal lines. It should also be appreciatedthat the components of the display device 100 may be implemented ashardware, software, or a combination of both hardware and software (e.g.middleware).

The storage unit 120 illustrated in FIG. 1A may include non-volatiletype memory such as non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) orelectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), commonlyreferred to as flash memory. The storage unit 120 may also include otherforms of high speed random access memory such as dynamic random-accessmemory (DRAM) and static random-access memory (SRAM), or may include amagnetic hard disk drive (HDD). In cases where the flexible displaydevice is a mobile device, the storage unit 120 may additionally includea subscriber identity module (SIM) card for storing a user's profileinformation.

The storage unit 120 is tasked with storing various data, informationand applications that are needed to operate the display device 100. Aswill be described in more detail throughout this description, thedisplay device 100 of the present invention employs a touch sensitivedisplay that allows a user to make contact on the touch sensitivedisplay to draw unique touch input gestures. The storage unit 120 istasked with storing information describing a touch input gesture thatmay be drawn on a touch sensitive display of the display device 100,where the touch input gesture may be recognized as a command forinvoking a text input box to be displayed. An example for a touch inputgesture that may be recognized as a command for invoking the display ofa text input box can be seen by the text input gesture 210 illustratedin FIG. 2B. It is also within the scope of the present invention toallow for a variety of other touch input gestures to be recognized ascommands for invoking the display of a text input box, as illustrated inFIGS. 4A-4E, FIGS. 5A-5C and FIGS. 6A-6C. In the case where the displaydevice 100 is able to recognize more than one touch input gesture as acommand for invoking the display of a text input box, the storage unit120 may be tasked with storing the information describing each of thesetouch input gestures.

So the touch recognition unit 111 may be constantly detecting contactsmade on the touch sensitive display unit 170 in order to determinewhether a specific touch input gesture may be recognized as apredetermined touch input gesture for invoking the display of a textinput box. After a touch input gesture is drawn on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170, the touch recognition unit 111 may compare the touchinput gesture drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 againstinformation stored in the storage unit 120 that describes a touch inputgesture that should be recognized as invoking the display of a textinput box. If the touch input gesture drawn on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170 is found by the touch recognition unit 111 tosubstantially match information stored in the storage unit 120 thatdescribes a touch input gesture to be recognized as a command fordisplaying a text input box, then this information indicating a match istransmitted to the system controller 112. The system controller 112 isthen responsible for controlling the touch sensitive display unit 170 todisplay a text input box and a virtual keyboard to allow for text inputby a user. Additional characteristics of the touch input gesture may berecognized for controlling features of the text input box to bedisplayed. Such further description will be provided throughout theremainder of this disclosure.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the storage unit 120 mayfurther encompass access to remote storage in a cloud storage computingenvironment where information describing a predetermined touch inputgesture for invoking the display of a text input box may be externallystored. The actual accessing of the remote storage may be accomplishedvia the communications unit 130.

The communications unit 130, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, may include RFcircuitry that allows for wireless access to outside communicationsnetworks such as the Internet, Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide AreaNetworks (WANs) and the like. The wireless communications networksaccessed by the communications unit 130 may follow variouscommunications standards and protocols including, but not limited to,Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband codedivision multiple access (W-CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA),Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Short Message Service (SMS) textmessaging and any other relevant communications standard or protocolthat allows for wireless communication by the display device 100.

Additionally, the communications unit 130 may include various input andoutput interfaces (not shown) for allowing wired data transfercommunication between the display device 100 and an external electronicsdevice. The interfaces may include, for example, interfaces that allowfor data transfers according to the family of universal serial bus (USB)standards, the family of IEEE 1394 standards or other similar standardsthat relate to data transfer.

The orientation unit 140 may be provided for keeping track of apositional orientation of the display device 100. Orientationinformation that is detected and measured by the orientation unit 140may then be transmitted to the system controller 112, where the systemcontroller may use this information to control other components of thedisplay device 100 in response. For instance, the display of objects onthe touch sensitive display unit 170 may be adaptively controlled by thesystem controller 112 in response to the information received from theorientation unit 140. In order to accomplish the function of determiningthe orientation of the display device 100, the orientation unit 140 maybe comprised of a gyroscopic and accelerometer sensing units. Additionalinstances of when information from the orientation unit 140 may bereferenced will be provided later in this disclosure.

The audio I/O unit 150 may be comprised of a microphone to pick up audiosignals (e.g. user's voice input) that exist within the environmentsurrounding the display device 100, as well as speakers to output audiosignals into the environment surrounding the display device 100.

The camera unit 160 illustrated in FIG. 1A may include an RGB camera forcapturing images. Images captured by the RGB camera may then be storedon the storage unit 120. The camera unit 160 may additionally include adepth sensing camera. The depth sensing camera is able to capture imagesand measure distances of objects that are captured based on sonar typetechnologies or infrared type technologies.

The touch sensitive display unit 170 is comprised primarily of a touchsensitive display and the touch sensors required to detect contacts onthe touch sensitive display. Preferably the touch sensors will becapacitive type sensors, but pressure type sensors may be utilized aswell for the present invention. In this way the display device 100 maybe considered to be a touch sensitive display device, capable ofdetecting touch input contacts on its surface. In the present invention,a touch input gesture that is drawn on the touch sensitive display unit170 according to a user's touch contact (or stylus pen contact) is thenprocessed by the touch recognition unit 111 to determine whether thedrawn touch input gesture substantially matches up to a touch inputgesture intended to be recognized as a command for invoking the displayof a text input box. Further descriptions will be provided later in thisdisclosure.

The actual touch sensitive display of the touch sensitive display unit170 may be implemented using liquid crystal display (LCD) technologythat allows for a thin display screen and touch sensitive capabilities,although other similar display technologies such as organic lightemitting diode (OLED) display technology, electroluminescent display(ELD) technology or electronic paper technology may be implemented inother embodiments of the present invention.

The power unit 180 illustrated in FIG. 1A is a power source forproviding the power to operate the various components/units of theflexible display device 100. The power unit 180 may include a battery oran interface for providing power from external power sources (e.g.direct current adaptor, alternating current adaptor).

FIG. 1B illustrates the display device 100 as may be seen from anoutside product form. In FIG. 1B the display device 100 is depicted inproduct form as a tablet PC display device, however the display device100 may take on the product form of other similar display devices thatincorporate a touch sensitive display. The touch sensitive display unit170 can be seen on the front side of the display device 100, along withthe camera unit 160 and a variety of operational buttons 101, 102, 103.The three operational buttons 101, 102, 103 are illustrated forexemplary purposes only, as it is within the scope of the presentinvention to be utilized by a touch sensitive display device thatinclude fewer or more operational buttons. In FIG. 1B the display device100 is depicted in a landscape orientation. The landscape orientation ofthe display device 100 in FIG. 1B may be detected by the orientationunit 140, and the landscape orientation information that is detected bythe orientation unit 140 may then be transmitted to the systemcontroller 112. In the landscape orientation of FIG. 1B the x-axis andy-axis may be set as illustrated in FIG. 1B.

Similarly, FIG. 1C displays the same display device 100 that has beenrotated to be viewed by a user in the portrait orientation. For theportrait orientation, the x-axis and y-axis may be flipped to be asillustrated in FIG. 1C.

One of the most utilized features of a display device of any type is toread textual material. In other words, a display device is most oftenutilized to display written material for a user to read. FIG. 2Atherefore illustrates the display device 100 of the present inventiondisplaying written material on the touch sensitive display unit 170.Although in some instances a user may only desire to read the materialthat is displayed, in other instances a user may desire to write downsome notes on the touch sensitive display unit 170 of the display device100. It is in these instances where a user desires to quickly andefficiently input textual notes on a display device that the presentinvention comes into play.

In order to quickly and efficiently invoke the display of a text inputbox on the same screen as the written material on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170, the present invention introduces a unique touch inputgesture 210 as illustrated in FIG. 2B. The touch input gesture 210 maybe drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 by a user's fingercontact, or in some embodiments the touch input gesture 210 may be drawnon the touch sensitive display unit 170 by a stylus pen. Although thetouch input gesture 210 is depicted in FIG. 2B as being drawn in asubstantially free space on the touch sensitive display unit 170, thetouch input gesture 210 may also be drawn to overlap over the writtenmaterial that is displayed on the touch sensitive display unit 170.

After the touch input gesture 210 is drawn on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170, the touch recognition unit 111 will compare the touchinput gesture 210 against information stored on the storage unit 120that describes a touch input gesture that is to be recognized as acommand for invoking the display of a text input box. If the touchrecognition unit 111 determines that the touch input gesture 210substantially matches the information stored on the storage unit 120that describes a touch input gesture that is to be recognized as acommand for invoking the display of a text input box, then a text inputbox 215 and virtual keyboard 220 will be displayed on the touchsensitive display unit 170 as illustrated in FIG. 2C.

It should be noted that the touch input gesture is drawn free hand onthe touch sensitive display 170. The consequence of drawing the touchinput gesture 210 free hand is that each instance of drawing the touchinput gesture 210 will inherently have a degree of variance fromprevious drawings of the touch input gesture 210. It also follows thateach instance of the touch input gesture 210 drawn on the touchsensitive display 170 will most likely fail to exactly match informationdescribing a predetermined touch input gesture for invoking thedisplaying of a text input box that is stored in the storage unit 120.Therefore, due to the non-uniform nature of the free hand drawn touchinput gesture 210, the touch recognition unit 111 must process asimilarity computation that compares the free hand drawn touch inputgesture 210 against the information describing the predetermined touchinput gesture for invoking the display of a text input box in order todetermine a degree of similarity. If the similarity computation thatcompares the free hand drawn touch input gesture 210 against theinformation describing the predetermined touch input gesture forinvoking the display of a text input box returns a degree of similaritythat is within an allowed range of variance, then a text input box andvirtual keyboard may be displayed on the touch sensitive display unit170. In this way, the touch input gesture 210 that is drawn on the touchsensitive display unit 170 need not exactly match the text input boxinvoking touch input gesture that is stored in the storage unit 120, butrather the touch input gesture 210 need only substantially match thetext input box invoking touch input gesture that is stored in thestorage unit 120.

The allowed range of variance may be preset. A user may also modify theallowed range of variance at any time.

In some embodiments of the present invention, information describing thetext input gesture 210 that is drawn on the touch sensitive display unit170 may be stored on the storage unit 120 as a means to “learn” a user'sdrawing tendencies. As information describing other such text inputgestures that are drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170continues to accumulate in the storage unit 120, a database ofinformation describing various drawings of the user's touch inputgestures may be acquired. This database of information may then bereferenced by the touch recognition unit 111 when processing a degree ofsimilarity computation that compares the free hand drawn touch inputgesture 210 against the predetermined touch input gesture for invokingthe display of a text input box. By accumulating the database ofinformation describing previously drawn instances of touch inputgestures on the touch sensitive display unit 170, the display device 100may provide a smarter method for processing a degree of similaritycomputation that compares the free hand drawn touch input gesture 210against a predetermined touch input gesture for invoking the display ofa text input box.

The information describing the predetermined touch input gesture forinvoking the display of a text input box that is stored on the storageunit 120 (“predetermined touch input gesture”) will preferably describethe shape of the touch input gesture that is to be recognized as acommand for invoking the display of a text input box text. Apredetermined touch input gesture that is stored in the storage unit 120may be described as taking the shape of the predetermined touch inputgesture 310 illustrated in FIG. 3. Then a comparable user drawn touchinput gesture is depicted by the hand drawn touch input gesture 310-a.So after a user draws the touch input gesture 310-a on the touchsensitive display unit 170, the touch recognition unit 111 will processthe similarity computation comparing the touch input gesture 310-aagainst the predetermined touch input gesture 310.

Further regarding the composition of the predetermined touch inputgesture 310, FIG. 3 illustrates the predetermined touch input gesture310 as being comprised of a first component 301 and a second component302. The first component (ie. letter component) of the predeterminedtouch input gesture 310 may substantially be in the shape of a letter inan alphabet as illustrated in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the first component 301of the predetermined touch input gesture 310 is depicted in the shape ofthe letter ‘A’, in accordance to the English alphabet system. Althoughthe first component 301 of the predetermined touch input gesture 310exemplified in FIG. 3 is described as being a letter in the Englishlanguage alphabet, letters from other language alphabets may also beutilized. For example a first component of a predetermined touch inputgesture may be any letter belonging to the English alphabet, Koreanalphabet, Arabic alphabet, Chinese alphabet, German alphabet, Indianalphabet, That alphabet, Vietnamese alphabet, Japanese alphabet, Russianalphabet or any other known alphabet system. For simplicity reasons,additional examples for a foreign language first component of apredetermined touch input gesture according to the present inventionhave been illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5C in accordance to the Koreanlanguage alphabet only.

In accordance to a feature of the present invention, the language of aletter that is a first component of a predetermined touch input gesturemay determine the language setting of a text input box that is displayedwhen a user's touch input gesture drawn on the touch sensitive displayunit 170 is recognized as matching information describing thepredetermined touch input gesture that is stored in the storage unit120. It also follows that a language setting of a virtual keyboard thatis displayed when a user's touch input gesture drawn on the touchsensitive display unit 170 is recognized as matching informationdescribing a predetermined touch input gesture that is stored in thestorage unit 120 may be determined by the language of a letter that is afirst component of the predetermined touch input gesture.

So in the case where the predetermined touch input gesture 310 asdepicted in FIG. 3 is stored in the storage device 120 and a user drawsa touch input gesture 310-a on the touch sensitive display unit 170,much like the scene depicted in FIG. 2B, the touch recognition unit 111may compare a first component of the touch input gesture 310-a anddetermine that the drawn first component of the touch input gesture310-a is substantially similar to the first component 301 of thepredetermined touch input gesture 310 that reads the letter ‘A’ in theEnglish letter alphabet. By making this determination, the languagesetting of both the resulting text input box 215 and the virtualkeyboard 220 that are subsequently displayed may be set to the Englishlanguage.

In accordance to another feature of the present invention, the uppercase or lower case status of a letter that is a first component of apredetermined touch input gesture may have an effect on a correspondingtext input box that is to be displayed. In some languages there areseparate letters for identifying an upper case letter and a lower caseletter. The English language is one such language, as is the Koreanlanguage. For example there is a lower case ‘a’ and a separate uppercase ‘A’ in the English language. And in the Korean language, there is aletter for a lower case ‘

’ and a separate letter for an upper case

as exemplified by the first components illustrated in FIG. 5A and FIG.5C respectively. Touch input gesture 510-a and 510-b are examples of howa user may draw a touch input gesture on the touch sensitive displayunit 170 in a foreign language for mimicking the predetermined touchinput gestures 510-A and 510-B, respectively, where the predeterminedtouch input gestures 510-A and 510-B incorporate lower case letters inthe Korean language alphabet. Touch input gesture 510-c is anotherexample of how a user may draw a touch input gesture on the touchsensitive display unit 170 in a foreign language for mimicking thepredetermine touch input gesture 510-C, where the predetermined touchinput gesture 510-C incorporates an upper case letter in the Koreanlanguage alphabet.

Thus, instead of the first component 301 of the predetermined touchinput gesture 310 being in the shape of an upper case ‘A’ as depicted inFIG. 3, a first component of a predetermined touch input gesture may bein the shape of a lower case ‘a’. This is exemplified by thepredetermined touch input gesture 410-B illustrated in FIG. 4B. Thus insuch cases where the letter that is a first component of a predeterminedtouch input gesture belongs to a language that incorporates both upperand lower case letters, the status of the letter that is the firstcomponent of a touch input gesture that is drawn on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170 may determine the status of a first letter that is tobe typed in a corresponding text input box.

So in the case where the predetermined touch input gesture 410-B asdepicted in FIG. 4B is stored in the storage device 120 and a user drawsa touch input gesture 410-b on the touch sensitive display unit 170 thatis substantially similar to the predetermined touch input gesture 410-B,the touch recognition unit 111 may process a first component of thetouch input gesture 410-band determine that the drawn first component ofthe touch input gesture 410-b is substantially similar to a firstcomponent of the predetermined touch input gesture 410-B that reads thelower case letter ‘a’ in the English letter alphabet. By making thisdetermination, the first letter that is to be typed into a resultingtext input box (e.g. text input box 215) via a virtual keyboard (e.g.virtual keyboard 220) may be set to be a lower cased letter in theEnglish language.

In accordance to another feature of the present invention, the shape ofa first component of a predetermined touch input gesture may not be inthe shape of a letter in a known language alphabet system as previouslydescribed. According to these embodiments, the shape of the firstcomponent may simply be in the shape of a recognizable symbol or number.For example as depicted in FIG. 6A, the first component of thepredetermined touch input gesture 610-A is in the shape of a star. Sowhen a user draws a touch input gesture 610-a attempting to mimic thestar and line that comprise the predetermined touch input gesture 610-A,the touch recognition unit 111 may determine that the touch inputgesture 610-a is indeed substantially similar to the predetermined touchinput gesture 610-A, and a text input box may be displayed as a result.

In FIG. 6B, the shape of a first component of the predetermined touchinput gesture 610-B is depicted in the shape of a circle. So when a userdraws a touch input gesture 610-b attempting to mimic the circle andline that comprise the predetermined touch input gesture 610-B, thetouch recognition unit 111 may determine that the touch input gesture610-b is indeed substantially similar to the predetermined touch inputgesture 610-B, and a text input box may be displayed as a result.

And in FIG. 6C, the first component of the predetermined touch inputgesture 610-C is depicted as being in the shape of the numeral ‘1’. Sowhen a user draws a touch input gesture 610-c attempting to mimic thenumber ‘1’ and line that comprise the predetermined touch input gesture610-C, the touch recognition unit 111 may determine that the touch inputgesture 610-c is indeed substantially similar to the predetermined touchinput gesture 610-C, and a text input box may be displayed as a result.

It should be noted that although the preceding description onlydescribed using the first letter in an alphabet as a first component ofa predetermined touch input gesture, it is within the scope of thepresent invention to utilize any letter in a corresponding languagealphabet system as the first component of a predetermined touch inputgesture.

Now in describing the second component (ie. line component) of apredetermined touch input gesture, FIG. 3 depicts the second component302 of the predetermined touch input gesture 310 being in the shape of ahorizontal line that extends from the first component 301. The touchinput gesture 210 that is drawn by a user in the scene depicted in FIG.2B is also recreated by the touch input gesture 310-a in FIG. 3.According to the touch input gesture 210 that is drawn by a user in thescene depicted in FIG. 2B, a second component of the touch input gesture210 is seen to be substantially in the shape of a horizontal line thatextends out from the letter ‘A’, where the letter ‘A’ is a firstcomponent of the touch input gesture 210. This second component of theuser's touch input gesture 210 drawn on the touch sensitive display unit170 may be referenced when determining a size characteristic of acorresponding text input box 215 that is to be displayed.

In some embodiments an overall length of a touch input gesture that isdrawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 may be referenced todetermine a width of a text input box that is displayed when the touchinput gesture drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 is found tobe substantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture storedin the storage unit 120. The overall length of a touch input gesture maybe referenced by the length 303 illustrated in FIG. 3. Then as to aheight of the text input box that is displayed when the touch inputgesture drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 is found to besubstantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture stored inthe storage unit 120 (e.g. text input box 215), the height of such textinput box may be set to a predetermined height in some embodiments whilein other embodiments the height may be set to correspond to thedetermined width of the text input box. Specifically, according to someembodiments of the present invention, the height of a text input box maybe set to equal the determined width of the text input box.

Alternatively in some embodiments of the present invention, only thelength of a second component of a touch input gesture that is drawn onthe touch sensitive display unit 170 may be referenced when determiningthe width of a text input box that is displayed when the touch inputgesture drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 is found to besubstantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture stored inthe storage unit 120. In other words, instead of referencing the overalllength of a touch input gesture, in some embodiments only the length ofthe horizontal line portion that is the second component of a touchinput gesture may be referenced to set the width of a corresponding textinput box to be displayed. The length of a horizontal line portion thatis the second component of a touch input gesture is illustrated by thelength 302 in FIG. 3. As to a height of the text input box that isdisplayed when the touch input gesture drawn on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170 is found to be substantially similar to a predeterminedtouch input gesture stored in the storage unit 120, the height of suchtext input box may be set to a predetermined height in some embodimentswhile in other embodiments the height may be set to correspond to thedetermined width of the text input box. Specifically, according to someembodiments of the present invention, the height of a text input box maybe set to equal the determined width of the text input box.

Alternatively in some embodiments of the present invention, a secondcomponent of a predetermined touch input gesture may be additionallycomprised of a vertical line portion in addition to the aforementionedhorizontal line portion. Such a predetermined touch input gesture 710 isillustrated in FIG. 7. The predetermined touch input gesture 710illustrated in FIG. 7 has a second component that is comprised of ahorizontal line portion 702 and a vertical line portion 704. So when auser draws a touch input gesture 710-a, the touch recognition unit 111may run a process for determining whether the touch input gesture 710-adrawn by the user is substantially similar to the predetermined touchinput gesture. If the touch recognition unit 111 determines that thetouch input gesture 710-a is indeed substantially similar to thepredetermined touch input gesture 710, a text input box may be displayedas a result.

By expressly adding the vertical line portion to a second component of apredetermined touch input gesture, a user may have more control over theoverall size of a corresponding text input box that is to be displayed.Specifically, a user may draw the vertical line portion of the user'stouch input gesture such that the vertical line portion may bereferenced when determining the height of a corresponding text input boxto be displayed. Therefore the height of a text input box need not besimply set to a predetermined length or rely on a determined width ofthe text input box. Instead, a user may have greater control over theheight of a text input box that is to be displayed by drawing thevertical line portion of the user's text input gesture to be referencedas the height of the text input box.

For instance, if a user were to draw the touch input gesture 710-a onthe touch sensitive display unit 170 as illustrated in FIG. 7, thenassuming that the touch recognition unit 111 recognizes that the touchinput gesture 710-a is substantially similar to the predetermined touchinput gesture 710, a corresponding text input box that is displayed willhave a height that corresponds to the vertical line portion 704 of thetouch input gesture 710-a that is drawn by the user.

As to the placement of a second component of a touch input gesture thatis drawn by a user, the only hard requirement is that the secondcomponent extends out from a first component of the touch input gesture.For instance the horizontal line that is the second component of a touchinput gesture may be drawn by a user to extend out from a middle pointof a first component of the same touch input gesture, as illustrated inFIG. 3. Or the horizontal line that is the second component of a touchinput gesture may be drawn by a user to extend out from a bottom pointof a first component of the same touch input gesture, as illustrated bythe touch input gesture 410-A and 410-B in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B,respectively. Similarly, in the Korean language alphabet embodimentsthat are illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5C, a horizontal line that is a secondcomponent of a touch input gesture is illustrated as being drawn by auser to extend out from a middle point of a first component in FIG. 5Band as being drawn by a user to extend out from a lower point of a firstcomponent in FIGS. 5A and 5C.

According to a feature of the present invention, a thickness of a linethat is a second component of a user's touch input gesture that is drawnon the touch sensitive display unit 170 may be referenced to determinewhether text that is typed into a corresponding text input box has abold font characteristic. For instance, text that is typed into acorresponding text input box may have a bold font characteristic if thethickness of a line that is a second component of a user's drawn touchinput gesture is greater than a predetermined thickness.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a predeterminedtouch input gesture may be additionally comprised of a third component(ie. feature component). FIG. 8 illustrates a predetermined touch inputgesture 810 that is comprised of a first component 801, second component802 and a third component 803. The first component 801 and the secondcomponent 802 may be understood to be the same as described above. Froma user's perspective, the additional third component 803 that is drawnat the tail end of the user's touch input gesture 810-a may serve toindicate an end to the user's touch input gesture.

In addition, a third component of a user's touch input gesture that isdrawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 may be referenced fordetermining a font characteristic of text to be written in a text inputbox that is displayed in response to the touch recognition unit 111recognizing that the user's touch input gesture is substantially similarto a corresponding predetermined touch input gesture. For instance, inthe scene illustrated in FIG. 8 the third component 803 of the user'stouch input gesture 810-a is depicted as being drawn to mimic thepredetermined third component of the predetermined touch input gesture810. The third component is in the shape of the letter ‘u’, which may bereferenced to control text to be written in a newly displayed text inputbox to have an underlined font characteristic. Similarly, in a casewhere the third component is drawn in the shape of the letter ‘i’, therecognized letter ‘i’ may be referenced to control text to be written ina newly displayed text input box to have an italic font characteristic.Similarly, in a case where the third component is drawn in the shape ofthe letter ‘b’, the recognized letter ‘b’ may be referenced to controltext to be written in a newly displayed text input box to have a boldfont characteristic.

Although not specifically illustrated in the drawings, a predeterminedtouch input gesture according to the present invention that isreferenced as a command for invoking the display of a text input box maybe comprised of only a single first component in some embodiments. Inthis simplified form, the single first component may be in the shape ofany one of the first components described previously in this disclosure.Therefore when a user draws a touch input gesture on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170 that is recognized by the touch recognition unit 111 asbeing substantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture thatis comprised of a single first component, a corresponding text input boxmay be displayed in the area where the touch input gesture was drawn.Characteristics of the drawn touch input gesture that is comprised ofthe single first component may control certain characteristics of textto be typed into the displayed text input box in the same manner as thefirst component described previously in this disclosure.

Also, although the above embodiments have described the touch inputgesture as being drawn in the order of the first component (i.e. lettercomponent), second component (i.e. line component) and third component(i.e. feature component), the present invention is not fixed to suchorder. It is within the scope of the present invention to have the touchinput gesture be comprised of at least one of the letter component, linecomponent and feature component arranged in any order.

In the drawings described previously, a text input box that is displayedas a result of a recognized text input gesture on the touch sensitivedisplay unit 170 has been described as being displayed in a manner thatis parallel to a current horizontal x-axis of the display device 100.However a user may not always desire to have a text input box displayedin such a manner, and thus the present invention also allows for a userto draw a touch input gesture on the touch sensitive display unit 170where an angle of the touch input gesture may determine an angle atwhich a corresponding text input box will be displayed on the touchsensitive display unit 170. To better describe this feature of thepresent invention, a description will be provided with reference toFIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C below.

The display device 100 in FIG. 9A is shown to accept a user's touchinput gesture 910, where the touch input gesture 910 has been drawn atan angle with reference to a horizontal x-axis. Assuming that the touchinput gesture 910 is recognized as being substantially similar to apredetermined touch input gesture for invoking the display of a textinput box, the consequence of the user drawing the touch input gesture910 at an angle is that the corresponding text input box 915-b isdisplayed at an angle, as illustrated in FIG. 9B. The angle at which thetext input box 915 makes with the horizontal x-axis may be set tocorrespond to the angle at which the user's touch input gesture drawn onthe touch sensitive display unit 170 makes with the horizontal x-axis.For instance, the angle at which the text input box 915-b makes with thehorizontal x-axis may be set to be equal to the angle at which theuser's touch input gesture drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170makes with the horizontal x-axis.

FIG. 9C illustrates a unique parallelogram shape for the text input box915-c that is optimized for angled text typing that may be displayed inresponse to the user's touch input gesture being recognized as beingsubstantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture forinvoking the display of such text input box 915-c.

Also, although not specifically illustrated in the drawings, the virtualkeyboard 920 may also be displayed at an angle that corresponds to theangle of the touch input gesture 910 that is drawn on the touchsensitive display unit 170.

According to a feature of the display device of the present invention,the display device is able to perform a display adjustment of a textinput box to avoid overlapping with written material that is displayedon the touch sensitive display unit 170. Specifically, after a user'stouch input gesture that was drawn on the touch sensitive display unit170 has been recognized by the touch recognition unit 111 as beingsubstantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture, an issueof a touch input box to be displayed overlapping with written materialmay occur. If the touch input box were to be displayed to overlap withwritten material on the touch sensitive display unit 170, the user maybe irritated that the text input box is preventing the user from readingthe overlapped written material. Therefore the present invention offersvarious solutions to deal with this potential issue.

FIG. 10A illustrates a display device 100 where a user's touch inputgesture that was drawn on the touch sensitive display unit 170 hasalready been recognized by the touch recognition unit 111 as beingsubstantially similar to a predetermined touch input gesture. Then thedisplay of a corresponding text input box will be adapted to avoidoverlapping with written material already being displayed on the touchsensitive display unit 170. So in FIG. 10A the text input box is seen tobe split into a first text input box 1015 a and a second text input box1015 b in an effort to avoid overlapping written material.

In FIG. 10B, another embodiment of the present invention is illustratedwhere the text input box 1015 c is made to have a degree of transparencyto allow a user to still view overlapped written material. The virtualkeyboard 1020 is illustrated as being opaque, but the virtual keyboard1020 may also share a degree of transparency in an effort to allow auser to view overlapped written material. It should be understood thatalthough written material has been expressly recited in the aboveexamples, it is a feature of the present invention to adapt the displayof a text input box in order to avoid overlapping any visual objectsdisplayed on the touch sensitive display unit 170, not just writtenmaterial.

As one of the primary reasons for allowing a user's touch input gestureto quickly and efficiently control the display of a new text input boxis related to the field of editing and note taking related to writtenmaterial, a user may want to draw a notation 1105 in addition to a textinput gesture 1110, where the notations are used to reference parts inthe written material as illustrated in FIG. 11A. Then if a text inputbox 1115 is displayed in response to the user's text input gesture 1110being recognized as being substantially similar to a predetermined touchinput gesture, then the notation 1105 may be helpful to connect a partin the written material with the text input box 1115 that willpresumably contain notes related to the part in the written materialindicated by the notation 1105 as illustrated by FIG. 11B.

So if a user was to draw the notation 1105 indicating the specificportion of the written material in FIG. 11A, and then draw the touchinput gesture 1110 for invoking the display of a text input box, thenassuming the touch input gesture 1110 is recognized the text input box1115 will be displayed along with a virtual keyboard 1120 as illustratedin FIG. 11B. Then as the user continues to type a note in the text inputbox 1115, the amount of text may require the text input box 1115 toincrease in size. So in order to maintain an accurate connected betweenthe notation 1105 and the text input box 1115, a feature of the presentinvention allows for the adaptive adjustment in the size of thedisplayed notation 1105 in accordance with the size of the text inputbox 1115.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart diagram describing the steps utilizedduring a process for recognizing a touch input gesture for invoking thedisplay of a text input box according to the present invention.

In step 1201 a user will draw a touch input gesture on a touch sensitivedisplay screen of a display device according to the present invention.The touch input gesture that is of concern according to the presentinvention may be recognized as a command for invoking the display of anew text input box on the touch sensitive display screen.

Then in step 1202, a touch recognition unit will compare the touch inputgesture that is drawn on the touch sensitive display screen to visualinformation that describes a predetermined touch input gesture. Thevisual information that describes the predetermined touch input gesturemay be stored in a storage unit, or alternatively may be stored on anexternal memory storage unit that is accessible through a communicationunit of the display device. The actual shape of the predetermined touchinput gesture may be according to any of the predetermined touch inputgestures described throughout this disclosure.

Then at step 1203, the touch recognition unit will make a comparisoncalculation to determine whether the touch input gesture drawn by theuser is substantially similar to the predetermined touch input gestureas described by the visual information stored in the storage unit. Thiscomparison calculation may be made according to a variety of techniquesfor mapping input points on the touch sensitive display screen due tothe user's touch input gesture against the visual information that mapsthe predetermined touch input gesture. The touch input gesture drawn bythe user may be determined to be substantially similar to thepredetermined touch input gesture if the similarity is found to bewithin an allowable range of variance.

Then if the touch input gesture drawn by the user is determined to besubstantially similar to the predetermined touch input gesture, then theprocess proceeds to step 1204 where the text input box and acorresponding virtual keyboard are displayed on the touch sensitivedisplay screen. However if the user's touch input gesture that is drawnon the touch sensitive display screen is determined not to besubstantially similar to the predetermined touch input gesture, then theprocess will revert back to step 1201 where a user has anotheropportunity to draw another touch input gesture.

FIG. 13 has been provided to better organize the various features of atext input box that may be controlled according to a shape of a touchinput gesture that is drawn on a touch sensitive display device andrecognized as a command for invoking the display of the text input box.For some features of the text input box, there are available a number ofdifferent ways to control the text input box feature according to acharacteristic of a touch input gesture that has been drawn inaccordance to the present invention.

For instance, the width of a text input box may be set to correspond toa length of a second component of a user's touch input gesture accordingto some embodiments of the present invention. And in other embodiments,the width of a text input box may be set to correspond to an overalllength of a user's recognized touch input gesture.

In addition, the height of a text input box may be set to correspond toa predetermined length, with no reference to the width of the text inputbox, according to some embodiments of the present invention. And inother embodiments, the height of the text input box may be set tocorrespond to the determined width of the text input box, resulting in asquare shaped text input box.

In addition, the language setting of a text input box and/or virtualkeyboard that is displayed in accordance to an object of the presentinvention may be set to correspond to a language of a first component ofa user's recognized touch input gesture, as previously described in thisdisclosure.

In addition, text that is to be typed in a text input box that has beendisplayed in accordance to an object of the present invention may have abold font feature if the thickness of a second component of a user'stouch input gesture is greater than a predetermined thickness amount,according to some embodiments of the present invention. And in otherembodiments, text that is to be typed in a text input box that has beendisplayed in accordance to an object of the present invention may have abold font feature if a third component of a user's recognized touchinput gesture is recognized to be in a predetermined shape (e.g. ‘b’).

In addition, in some embodiments of the present invention, text that isto be typed in a text input box that has been displayed in accordance toan object of the present invention may have an italic font feature if athird component of a user's recognized touch input gesture is recognizedto be in a predetermined shape (e.g. T).

In addition, in some embodiments of the present invention, text that isto be typed in a text input box that has been displayed in accordance toan object of the present invention may have an underlined font featureif a third component of a user's recognized touch input gesture isrecognized to be in a predetermined shape (e.g. ‘u’).

In addition, in some embodiments of the present invention, an uppercase/lower case status of a letter that is to be typed in a text inputbox that has been displayed in accordance to an object of the presentinvention may be set to correspond to an upper case/lower case status ofa first component of a user's recognized touch input gesture (e.g. ‘i’).In other words, if a letter that is the first component of the user'srecognized touch input gesture is in an upper case status, then a letterto be typed in a corresponding text input box will share the upper casestatus.

In addition, in some embodiments of the present invention, an end to auser's touch input gesture is signaled by the end of a second componentof the user's touch input gesture. And in other embodiments, the end toa user's touch input gesture is signaled by the recognition of a thirdcomponent of the user's touch input gesture. Various examples for whatconstitutes a third component of a user's text input gesture areprovided throughout this disclosure.

Further to the explanations with reference to FIGS. 4-6, the lettercomponent of the touch input gesture can be used for determining morecharacteristics of the text input box and the virtual keyboard.

The keyboard setting of the virtual keyboard can be determined by theletter component. When the letter component of the recognized touchinput gesture corresponds to a letter of a specific language, thekeyboard setting of the virtual keyboard may be set to the specificlanguage and the virtual keyboard may be displayed with the setting ofthe specific language. In other words, the keyboard setting furtherincludes language setting.

The keyboard setting may also comprise detailed language setting. Thedetailed language setting is detailed keyboard setting for the languagesetting when the language setting is determined. For an embodiment, thedetailed language setting may be the upper case setting or the lowercase setting when the language setting is determined to be the Englishalphabet. When the letter component of the recognized touch inputgesture is upper case alphabet (eg. ‘A’), the keyboard setting is set tolanguage setting of alphabet and the detailed language setting of uppercase. When the letter component of the recognized touch input gesture islower case alphabet (eg. ‘d’), the keyboard setting is set to languagesetting of English alphabet and the detailed language setting of thelower case. For another embodiment, the detailed language setting may be“HIRAGANA” setting or “GATAKANA” setting when the language setting isdetermined to be the Japanese alphabet. In other words, the detailedlanguage setting is subordinate setting of a language which issubsequently determined based on the letter component also, when thelanguage setting is determined.

The keyboard setting may further comprise number setting. When theletter component of the recognized touch input gesture is a number asdescribed with the FIG. 6 c, the keyboard setting of the virtualkeyboard can be set to the number setting. When the keyboard setting ofthe virtual keyboard can be set to the number setting, the virtualkeyboard may be displayed as a simplified number keypad which mainlyincludes number keys for number input.

The keyboard setting may further comprise symbol setting. When theletter component of the recognized touch input gesture is a symbol asdescribed with the FIGS. 6 a and 6 b, the keyboard setting of thevirtual keyboard can be set to the symbol setting. When the keyboardsetting is set to the symbol setting, the virtual keyboard is displayedas a symbol keyboard which mainly includes symbol keys instead of letterkeys.

It should be noted that the characteristic of the text input box canalso be determined by the letter component. For an embodiment, the fontsize of the text input box can be determined by the letter component ofthe recognized touch input gesture. The font size of the text input boxcan be determined based on the size of the letter component. The fontsize of the text input box may be set to the pre-determined size. But bydetermining the font size based on the size of the letter component, theuser can start writing text with his desired size by the single userinput gesture. This may be particularly useful when the user wants toadd annotation to the empty space of the displaying text content. Thefont size of the text input box may be set to the exact size or thesimilar size of the user-drawn letter component. Alternatively, the fontsize of the text input box may be set to the proportional size of theuser-drawn letter component. Otherwise, the font size of the text inputbox may be determined based on at least one of the vertical size orhorizontal size of the user-drawn letter component.

The font size may comprise the vertical size and the horizontal size forthe font. In other words, when the font size is set, the vertical sizeand the horizontal size can be set by the preset ratio corresponding tothe font size. For an embodiment, the vertical size and the horizontalsize of the font can also be set by the vertical size and the horizontalsize of the letter component respectively. In other words, the ratiobetween the vertical size and the horizontal size of the font can bedetermined by the ratio between the vertical size and the horizontalsize of the letter component.

FIGS. 14A˜14E illustrate other embodiments of touch input gestures andtext input boxes being displayed on a display device in response to therecognition of the touch input gestures drawn on the display devicerespectively.

As described above, the width of the text input box can be determinedwith reference to the touch input gesture which includes the lettercomponent and the line component. For an embodiment, the width of thetext input box can be set to the width (w1) by referencing the overalllength (w1) of the touch input gesture which includes the lettercomponent and the line component as depicted in FIG. 14A. For anotherembodiment, the width of the text input box can be set to the width (w2)by referencing only the length of the line component (w2) as depicted inFIG. 14B. For an embodiment, the letter component and the line componentcan be either connected or separated.

Another characteristics of the text input box can be determined asdepicted in FIG. 14C˜FIG. 14E. Paragraph attributes such as indent oroutdent can be determined by the touch input gesture. For example, thelength between the overall length of the touch input gesture and thelength of the line component can be used for indenting or outdenting theparagraphs of the text input box. For another example, the length of theline component and the location of the letter component can be used forindenting or outdenting the paragraphs of the text input box.

In the embodiment of FIG. 14C, indenting space is set by the touch inputgesture. In more detail, the width of the test input box is set to thewidth (w4) by referencing the overall length of the touch input gesture(w4). In the text input box, indention is set by spacing a distance inthe first line of each paragraph. The spacing distance for indention isdetermined with reference to the touch input gesture, by subtracting thelength of the line component (w3) from the overall length of the touchinput gesture (w4). For the embodiment of FIG. 14C, the distance of theindenting space may correspond to the width (w4-w3).

In the embodiment of FIG. 14D, indenting space is also set by the touchinput gesture. In more detail, the width of the test input box is set byreferencing the length of the line component (w5). In the text inputbox, indention is set by spacing a distance in the first line of eachparagraph. The spacing distance for indention is determined withreference to the touch input gesture by considering the length of theline component and the position of the letter component. In FIG. 14D,the letter component is located below the line component and between thestart point and the end point of the line component. Thus, the spacingdistance for indention can be determined by using the length (w6)between the starting point of the line component and the lettercomponent. Or, the spacing distance for indention can be determined byusing the length (w7) between the letter component and the end point ofthe line component, by subtracting the length (w7) from the length ofthe line component (w5). As depicted in FIG. 14D, the width of theindenting space may correspond to the width (w6) or the width (w5-w7).

In the embodiment of FIG. 14E, outdenting space is set by the touchinput gesture. In more detail, the width of the test input box is set tothe width (w8) by referencing the length of the line component (w8). Inthe text input box, outdention is set by spacing a distance from thesecond line of paragraphs. The spacing distance for outdention isdetermined with reference to the touch input gesture by considering thelength of the line component and the position of the letter component.In FIG. 14E, the letter component is located above the line componentand between the start point and the end point of the line component.Thus, the spacing distance for outdention can be determined by using thelength (w9) between the starting point of the line component and theletter component. Or, the spacing distance for outdention can bedetermined by using the length (w10) between the letter component andthe end point of the line component, by subtracting the length (w10)from the length of the line component (w8). For the embodiment of FIG.14D, the width of the outdenting space may correspond to the width (w9)or the width (w8-w10).

As abovementioned, various size characteristics of the text input box(e.g. font size, vertical size and the horizontal size of the font,width or height of the text input box, spacing distance for indention oroutdention) can be determined based on the size of the letter component,the length of the line component, etc. The size characteristics of thetext input box can be determined to the same size or the similar size ofthe size of the letter component or the length of the line component,etc. The size characteristics of the text input box also can bedetermined to the proportional size of the size of the letter componentor the length of the line component, etc. The size characteristics ofthe text input box also can be determined when the size of the lettercomponent or the length of the line component, etc corresponds to thepre-set size level. The size characteristics of the text input box alsocan be determined when the size of the letter component or the length ofthe line component, etc corresponds to a size between pre-set sizelevels.

Overall, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present invention. Thus,although the foregoing description has been described with reference tospecific examples and embodiments, these are not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to only those examples andembodiments specifically described.

What is claimed is:
 1. A touch sensitive display device, comprising: a touch sensitive display configured to detect a contact from a touch input gesture; a storage unit configured to store information describing a predetermined touch input gesture for executing a display of a text input box and a virtual keyboard on the touch sensitive display; a touch recognition unit configured to compare the touch input gesture detected from the touch sensitive display to the information describing the predetermined touch input gesture; and a system controller configured to control the display of the text input box and the virtual keyboard on the touch sensitive display when the touch input gesture is recognized as being substantially similar to the predetermined touch input gesture for executing the display of the text input box, the virtual keyboard being displayed along with the text input box, wherein the touch input gesture comprises a letter component and a line component for determining attributes of the text input box and the virtual keyboard, and wherein the letter component is used for determining a keyboard setting of the virtual keyboard and the line component is used for determining a size characteristic of the text input box.
 2. The touch sensitive display device of claim 1, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a language setting of the virtual keyboard.
 3. The touch sensitive display device of claim 2, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a detailed language setting which is subsequently determined based on the letter component when the language setting is determined.
 4. The touch sensitive display device of claim 1, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a number setting.
 5. The touch sensitive display device of claim 4, wherein the keyboard setting is determined to the number setting when the letter component of the recognized touch input gesture corresponds to a number.
 6. The touch sensitive display device of claim 4, wherein the virtual keyboard is displayed as a number keypad when the keyboard setting is determined to the number setting.
 7. The touch sensitive display device of claim 1, wherein the letter component is further used for determining a characteristic of the text input box.
 8. The touch sensitive display device of claim 1, wherein a font size of the text input box is determined based on the size of the letter component.
 9. The touch sensitive display device of claim 1, wherein a font size of the text input box is determined based on at least one of vertical size or horizontal size of the letter component.
 10. The touch sensitive display device of claim 1, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a symbol setting.
 11. The touch sensitive display device of claim 10, wherein the keyboard setting is determined to be the symbol setting when the letter component of the recognized touch input gesture corresponds to a symbol.
 12. The touch sensitive display device of claim 10, wherein the virtual keyboard is displayed as a symbol keyboard when the keyboard setting is determined to be the symbol setting.
 13. A method for recognizing a touch input gesture, comprising: detecting a contact on a touch sensitive display that is drawn in the shape of a touch input gesture; comparing the touch input gesture detected from the touch sensitive display to shape feature information describing a predetermined touch input gesture, wherein the predetermined touch input gesture is a command for executing a display of a text input box and a virtual keyboard; and controlling the display of the text input box and the virtual keyboard on the touch sensitive display when the touch input gesture is recognized as being substantially similar to the predetermined touch input gesture, the virtual keyboard being displayed along with the text input box, wherein the touch input gesture comprises a letter component and a line component for determining attributes of the text input box and the virtual keyboard, and wherein the letter component is used for determining a keyboard setting of the virtual keyboard and the line component is used for determining a size characteristic of the text input box.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a language setting of the virtual keyboard.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a detailed language setting which is subsequently determined based on the letter component when the language setting is determined.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a number setting.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the keyboard setting is determined to the number setting when the letter component of the recognized touch input gesture corresponds to a number.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the virtual keyboard is displayed as a number keypad when the keyboard setting is determined to the number setting.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein the letter component is further used for determining a characteristic of the text input box.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein a font size of the text input box is determined based on the size of the letter component.
 21. The method of claim 13, wherein a font size of the text input box is determined based on at least one of vertical size or horizontal size of the letter component.
 22. The method of claim 13, wherein the keyboard setting further comprises a symbol setting.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the keyboard setting is determined to be the symbol setting when the letter component of the recognized touch input gesture corresponds to a symbol.
 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the virtual keyboard is displayed as a symbol keyboard when the keyboard setting is determined to be the symbol setting. 